Although the regular season technically began last week, when the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics played a pair of games in Tokyo, Japan, the rest of the league will enjoy Opening Day on Thursday, March 28.

That includes the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, who will begin the season facing each other for the second consecutive season and the sixth time since 2003.

Here's how you can watch and what you should be aware of heading into the new year.

MLB Opening Day viewing information

  • Dates: Thursday, March 28
  • Time: 4:15 p.m. ET 
  • Location: Kauffman Stadium -- Kansas City, Missouri
  • TV: Fox Sports Kansas City and NBC Sports Chicago
  • Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)    
  • Live Stats: GameTracker
  • Picks: Check SportsLine's MLB pick sheet for all your daily odds. 
  • Odds: Royals -114 / White Sox -103 

Storylines

White Sox: Chicago is coming off a disappointing winter in which they failed to land either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. On the bright side, the White Sox will have Eloy Jimenez in the lineup and he could give them their sought-after middle-of-the-order bat. Carlos Rodon is hoping this is the season he looks like more than a mid-rotation starter.

Royals: Well, the Royals are going to be fast, if not good. Kansas City employs Billy Hamilton, Whit Merrifield, Terrance Gore, and Adalberto Mondesi -- each of whom is a threat to run whenever they reach base. That should be fun. Otherwise, the best-case scenario for the Royals is playing spoiler and developing their young talent.

Prediction

Give us the White Sox. Both teams are likely to bad, but the Royals are probably a little worse.

Pick: White Sox -103